Greetings!
This post is about Mom. At times when I post about Mom, I include random pictures that don't go with the story but tell a story of their own, just to mix it up a bit. I used to add cute pics of the kids throughout a post, just to keep people updated on what the kids looked like, what they were up to. Well, the kids are now 14 and 12. Cute pictures are no longer a thing. In fact, this is a most recent, elusive family photo from late summer 2021. (Tip: Capture them in the car, get the selfie centered while they are engrossed in their phones, say their names, then *quick* take the pic. Your window of time is small.)
So instead of cute kid pics, you can enjoy cute cat pics. Ziggy (left) and Buzz (right) are here to entertain between the lines.
I like to post on Mom's birthday to reflect upon her life, share some joy she spread, to remember Mom as the kickass person she was. Well, here it is January 17th and not a word on here recently about Mom. I have been living life as is comes; these days life just seems to happen on a daily basis and I deal with what is happening without much thought outside of my daily bubble. And that's fine.
Last spring I was reading a local publication, Southern Maryland Woman Magazine, and came across a small ad about submitting an idea for a possible article. I folded back the page and left it next to my spot on the couch for the next 4 months. I finally took care of business and emailed a little blurb of my writing about Mom. A couple months went by and I received an email expressing interest in my writing, would I like to write about 700-800 words about Mom's story to be published in January 2022? Um, yes please.
I wrote the story almost immediately, whittled it down to the amount of words allotted, and submitted it. Then THIS BIRD EPISODE HAPPENED (THIS HAPPENED TOO) . Wowza. It would have been a powerful story to add to the article, but alas it had already been whittled to the bare bones. A few weeks later, the magazine contacted me saying they wanted to me to write more...enough words for me to piece back the whittled-out AND ADD THE BIRD STORY. I sent in my final draft, some pictures, left the rest up to the incredible people at the magazine, and went about my business. I would occasionally tell people about the article, but had no idea when it would actually be published. Life has been happening on a daily basis, so time went on and "when will the article come out" kept niggling in the back of my head, but I never took action to find out the answer. On January 13th I checked the online magazine site and noted a new cover. I digitally flipped through the pages until I came across page 21 with me and my Mama smiling back at me.
Click here for the website and flip to page 21.
Happy 87th Birthday, Mom.
